Celebrating Caitlin's Counties Success

Competition wise, 2022 has been a great success for BEJSC with both winning the Chiltern League, but also with one of our largest number of qualifiers to the ONB (Oxford and North Bucks) County Championships.  One of our younger swimmers, Caitlin Valentine competing in the 13-year-old category for 2022, delivered an amazing performance securing places in three of the finals at what was her first county championship.

Acceptance to counties is based on qualifying times at licensed swim meets.  A licensed meet has certain criteria to ensure the times are fair and accurate and your times then appear on the national rankings.  ONB is one of the top swim regions in the country and as such our qualification times are low - meaning qualification is a considerable achievement. 

Caitlin's times this year meant she was considered for 12 events at counties and was accepted for 11.  In these 11 events, Caitlin secured 10 personal best times (PB's), made the final for three events (placed at 7th, 5th and 4th) and was reserve place for two others.  She missed out on two places at the Regional Championships by only 1/100 second, but now is ranked in the top 10 fastest swimmers in the county in her age group for six separate events.

We are a small swimming club, but Caitlin is an example and inspiration showing what dedication and commitment to training and competition can achieve.